This coming Sunday is July 4.  How shall we celebrate the Lord’s Day when it falls on Independence Day?  And how shall we celebrate Independence Day when it falls on the Lord’s Day?

I’ve just entered my second year of retirement, so the question of Lord’s Day worship on July 4 takes on more of an academic tint than it had when I was planning worship week by week.  For sure, my musings are more for me than for our church here in Auburn or the church we will attend this Sunday in Memphis during a visit to our daughter and her family.

The question of July 4 worship (or first Sunday in July worship) has been a question since maybe 1776, but perhaps it takes on a new urgency in a time when a malignant nationalism has badly infected too many American churches.

Some churches will drape the flag over their crosses, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, sing God Bless America, and, if their tech team is up to it, explode indoor fireworks during the worship hour. A few pastors may find opportunity to curse the country, while still others will faithfully preach the texts given for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Continue reading →

It was a funeral mass, and the sanctuary was packed.  I was present with another person from my congregation because the daughter of the deceased was a member of our Presbyterian church, and we were there to support her. The missalette (Protestants, read: bulletin) contained some explanatory notes about the service including these words about the Eucharist (Protestants, read: Communion):

We welcome our fellow Christians to this celebration of the Eucharist as our brothers and sisters. We pray that our common baptism and the action of the Holy Spirit in this Eucharist will draw us closer to one another and begin to dispel the sad divisions which separate us. We pray that these will lessen and finally disappear, in keeping with Christ’s prayer for us “that they may all be one” (Jn 17:21).

Because Catholics believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life, and worship, members of those churches with whom we are not yet fully united are ordinarily not admitted to Holy Communion.

It was a kind reminder that my friend and I should not go forward to receive the sacrament, and I did not. My friend, however, was indignant and insisted that she had a right to receive the elements. Her insistence was more a reflection of her personality than any theological or ecclesiastical convictions. Continue reading →

A friend and fellow pastor just announced his plans for retirement – he plans to leave his pulpit in about six months, and after conferring with the elders at his church and then his congregation, he posted his plans on social media. The Facebook announcement garnered nearly a hundred “loves” and “likes” and over forty comments, most filled with encouragement, congratulations, and thanks.

One of the comments, good-natured, judging by the emojis used, was one I’ve seen and heard before: WAIT a second Rev! WHERE do you find a reference to “retirement” in the Bible? The only “alternative” I see mentioned to that ain’t good”!

My friend, in a good-natured reply, pointed out that the priests mentioned in Numbers 4 apparently faced mandatory retirement at age 50.  Good enough. By the way, the Bible doesn’t mention emergency appendectomies or air conditioning, and both are good alternatives to, say, death or Midwest summer humidity.

Recently I was talking with another generational peer who said he prefers to think of his life after paid employment as “repurposement” rather than retirement. I once knew a pastor, who at 85 (“I’m 85 years young” he’d tell us), served as chaplain for a retirement (repurposement?) community.  He liked to say he was reinspired instead of retired.

Really?  Is retirement so bad that some of us need a prooftext to justify it or a euphemism to cover it? It may have something to do with growing old. Continue reading →

You don’t have to agree with any or all of what I say, but I’m going to say it anyway. I think the covid vaccines are wonderfully good things, and we owe a debt of gratitude to former President Trump and his team members who oversaw their development at warp speed and to President Biden and his team members who have overseen their quick and effective distribution. I think, too, that everyone who is able to receive the vaccine ought to receive the vaccine – for their own good and for the common good.

If you’re not angry yet, keep on reading. (We do love our anger.)

As it turns out, virtue is not enough of its own reward.

President Biden has set a goal of having 70% of us (adults) vaccinated, or at least on our way to full vaccination, by July 4. Though we may not make it, I think it would be a good thing if we did – for our own good and for the common good.  Call it vaccine virtue. Continue reading →

We spent last week on the road.  We had flown out to Washington state on Friday, and then Sunday through Thursday we helped our son Christopher, his wife Katie, and their six children with the drive from Washington to western Missouri where Christopher has begun his work as an active-duty Air Force Chaplain at Whiteman Air Force Base.

The days were not long distance-wise, about 350 miles per day, but suffice it to say, rest stops with six children ten and under are not quick ins and outs.  It was a good trip. Three cars, two children per car, and we arrived in Missouri on schedule.  Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, and Missouri.

Three years ago, we made a similar trip from Wichita, Kansas, to Ephrata, Washington via Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. A pastor’s life can be a bit nomadic. Continue reading →